My Mac apps I use for productivity and more
This is a curated selection of Mac apps. All are free, and most are open source on GitHub. I use these on macOS 26.
- Aerial — Custom animated wallpaper and screen saver
- BoringNotch — Adds media controls, volume/battery notifications, calendar, and file tray to the notch
- Disk Space Analyzer — Free disk analyzer
- Everyday Habit Tracker — Simple daily to-dos (mine is Code, Read, Puzzle, for example)
- Grammarly — Why not
- IconChanger — Custom app icons
- Ghostery — Safari ad/tracker block extension
- Proton Pass, Mail & VPN — Free, Swiss-backed, privacy-first VPN and encrypted mail/files
- uBlock Origin Lite — Safari ad/tracker block extension
- Vivaldi — European browser, privacy and customizable
- Latest — Non-App Store app updater
- LaunchOS — The removed app launchpad that Spotlight replaced
- Nightshift — Safari dark mode extension
- Numi — Simple calculator
- PDFgear: PDF Editor & Reader — PDF editor, iOS too
- Pixen — Pixel art editor
- Raycast — Spotlight replacement
- SuperWhisper — Dictation replacement with better local AI and faster
- GIMP — Any format free image editor
- Karabiner-Elements — External keyboard mapping
- Mac Mouse Fix — External mouse mapping
- LocalSend — Any device file share
- MonitorControl — External monitor controls for brightness and more
- OPAutoClicker — Auto clicker
- Pearcleaner — App remover that gets all left-behind files
- ProNotes — Apple Notes upgrade for formatting and more
- Stats — RAM, GPU, CPU, heat, and more monitor
- SuperCorners — Better Mac hot corners
- Thaw — Menu bar item hider
- Upscayl — Local AI image upscaler
- VLC — Media player
- Battery - Battery limiter
- KeepingYouAwake - Prevents display from turning off
- Godot — Game engine
- TurboWarp — Beginner-friendly block coding
- Visual Studio Code — Code and file editor
- ChatGPT — Codex free; great for coding custom utils and more
- Claude — Great for research and small app coding
- Perplexity — Up-to-date for quick questions
- Ollama — Local AI
- MLX CLI/Python — Better local AI
- CKAN — Kerbal Space Program mod manager
- Nvidia GeForce NOW — Free cloud gaming if you own the game